My blog changed what I thought was possible. And that is invaluable. I can’t count how many times I have probably been asked this in regard to blogging from someone who kind of has no idea what blogging really even entails. Yet, I have to engage them. As popular as blogs have become, I think it still just seems like a bit of a mystery to the average person. I spend a lot of time at my computer and that’s kind of all people see. Often they are probably thinking, what the heck is the point?

My response to the question? “My blog doesn’t technically make me money, but it creates opportunities to do so. “

Sure in the beginning of the blogging era, people were all about placing hideous ads on their blogs and for some with a gazillion hits per day, it may have made them a couple of coins. So technically their blogs made them money. Now we all finally realize that those ads were ridiculous, so for many of us our “blogs” are not technically the thing making us the money. It’s the opportunities created through our blogs that are the key to the checks.

But I never started blogging with making money at the forefront anyway. I started blogging because I wanted to write. I had no interest in what it was to actually be a blogger. I always saw it just as a platform to introduce my writing and musings to more people from around the interwebs. That was in 2008 when I started dabbling.

It wasn’t until 2013 when I released my first book that I realized there was an earning potential in the things that I was deciding to share through my blog and social media. Not in the blog itself, but in building an audience that would show up to my book release and help me sell out of books. Those coins were made from the book, but aided through the blog.

So now we live in this time where people have realized the earning potential in blogging and sponsored posts and all those shenanigans and that’s when I thought to myself about the idea of diversifying what it is that I do here on the website, which is more than just blog. It would have NEVER occurred to me in 2008, that somehow this would be a viable way to actually make some money to supplement my full-time income or what happens most often, to invest back into my business.

When you do have a blog, you have to keep in mind YOUR goal. It’s very easy to get caught up chasing goals that look successful or profitable on other people. But you will always fail chasing something that is not your own. My goal? Has always been audience building that would be interested in buying things that I write. Bottom line. Now along the way different opportunities have presented themselves that I saw as a way to make some extra coins and feed my interest that I didn’t expect like creating some writing course materials and digital books.

So no, my blog does not pay me for the hours on end that I spend coming up with ideas and writing posts, and creating graphics, and promoting through social media, etc. But how has this blog been a catalyst to making money other ways?

Opportunities to speak on panels.

Opportunities to speak at schools like Temple University.

The ability to host a quarterly Dear Love Brunch that supports women in life, love, and relationships.

The ability to host a writing workshop that helps writers learn to be inspired by everyday life.

The ability to release a book (and working on second) that sold hundreds of copies. Modest yes, but I was shocked I even sold one.

The chance to collaborate with an amazing writer named GG Renee on a writing course about storytelling, style, and strategy. Digital Storytellers.

The chance to host events in Washington, DC and hopefully New York in 2017.

The chance to work one-on-one with writers looking to start blogs or self-publish.

The chance to write freelance pieces for Essence.com.

The chance to speak at Blogalicious this year in ATL.

And more important than all those things, it gave me a voice. It gave me the opportunity to connect with people in places I may never get the chance to visit. It gave me the opportunity to share experiences and to help others know that they are not alone in their quest to pursue happiness and success in writing and love. And I still feel like I am only just beginning to find my stride.

All of us will fall victim to that time where you are just trying to figure it out. You will look to other people, trying to get inspired and most often end up imitating something they’re doing. But there will come a time when you find your sweet spot. There will come a time when you really figure out what your objective is and most often it will not just be, making money. I promise you, you have a bigger goal and when you realize it, the money part of it will manifest.

So does my blog make me money? In a way, by giving me a platform to be seen and creating ways to make money outside of the page. But honestly, it has given me so much more than money when I think about it. It gave me a way to let the world know that I existed, that I had something to say and the confidence to realize that my talents and gifts could sustain me. I know that if my job says tomorrow, “you’re out of here,” I have marketable gifts and talents and with that, I would never go hungry.